Prateeks Q

People Inspired

Friday, February 13, 2015

If you
think that by travelling alone, choosing to plan your career or making money
out of your first real job, you have grown independent. Then Just take a step
back, stand in front of the mirror and slap yourself. Not once but twice.
Reality will seek you.

It is hard living a life. Period. What makes
it easier is when you accept that you cannot do everything alone. When you kill
your ego to a brutal death and walk out in sunshine, smiling at people and
accepting everyone for what they are. You actually start to live. If someone
annoys you, then you have no business to be with them. Also, no one forces you
too.

Economics
says that biggest asset that humans have is the power of choice. It is hard for
people to accept that though. As dumb as it may sound but we never actually “choose
wisely”.

Are you a
very ambitious person? Do you have hard-coded goals and dreams? Do Inspirational
people attract your deep yet unworthy attention? Do you work hard? Finally, do
you get lonely and depressed?

If any of
the question clicks with you. Then remember. Your life is on a ‘Highway to hell’*cliché*

It may be
easier for a man to say that the fairer sex likes qualities such as ambition
and aggression in a man. But what the man doesn’t actually realize is that
fairer sex is as dumb. Because when it comes to generalization of human being.
Everyone has a choice.

We may
seclude ourselves to the corners of the universe, trying to work out our
problems and staying silent even though the mind is still crapping out loud. Yet
we serve no purpose. Because our perspective in our own matters is nothing but
blinded.

Look into
your life and ask yourself. What would you have in the next 24 hours? If you
can answer that then ask yourself about a week? A month? A year?. Where would
you be. Are you going to get married in a year or so? Will you ever get your
dream job? Are you studying the right thing? Is your path towards your ambition
correct? Are you satisfied with what you have aimed for yourself? Are you
actually having an aim?

Do you
think you can find answers to all these questions, sitting alone and silent while
your mind jumps like a monkey, hanging to the neurons as branches of trees,
shattering your memories and broadcasting a nightmare instead of a dream?

As a human,
you have a will for something. Then you have the provision to plan for it, work
for it. Give time to it. And then reap its benefits. But for all this action is
needed. A small step, the first step, is needed.

We compare
ourselves with those who have achieved in life and tend to incline towards the
easier shortcuts with short term benefits. What we never understand is that
talent is just a pen. Your skill is the white paper, empty as it is, but is
ready to take whatever you write on it. Whether good or bad. Lucky or unlucky.
Your story remains yours. Period.

You want to
do something? Just go ahead, work on it and get it. If not, don’t settle.

You want to
love someone? then respect his or her feelings, express your love and check out
for yourself whether it would work out or not.

You want
someone as your closest aide? Never ever leave him or her. Because you make a closest aid, only
when you need one the most. There is no checklist. It is pure intuition. If
most of your decisions in life have been on gut feeling. Then these shouldn’t
be different.

Remember a
closest aide is way more important than Love and Ambition. Love may fail,
ambition may drown yet the aide would never leave you.

You have a
dream. Just work towards it. Silence will soon prevail around you and society
will shy away. At the end of the day, you would be happy.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

The
killing of a bird over a hill top is as fascinating for a hunter as it is
disgusting for a bird lover

No matter how loud you shout
within that peripheral bliss of money making on the ‘floor’, for every
investment manager dances to the tunes of the crawling indices around the
globe, at the end when the closure bell rings, the stock market sleeps, with
many sedated by profits and many anesthetized by drastic losses. And the moment
when you realize that you could have traded well, the sudden demise of a
business bankrupts the many swimmers in markets. This paragraph is not to be
understood.

Think of the times when
Alexander must have traded gold coins for his army’s shelter in a city. Oh!
Wait, neither did he trade gold coins nor did he ask for shelter. He rather,
dreadfully, traded in blood- his very own style of acquisitions. Something that
even Napoleon and the British army took the liberty of following. Was Napoleon
born before Alexander? Good question, but that is not the scope here.

And so the M&A (Mergers
and Acquisitions) in the warfare were a common sight. So is the case in the
famous Games of Thrones. You have the delicacies of mistrust, misfortunes,
defamation, cheat, conspiring tactics, murderous vengeance and lastly, the
sweetness of woman's love. All these together knitted kingdoms and their allies
with them or their opponents against them. Yet in the end, the success was biased and one-sided. In form of victory, it belonged to the kingdom with
better resources, better man power (warriors) and most of all, with better
influence. The fortune spent on war was limitless, for the victorious makes the
fallen kingdom- defunct and dry of resources. Yet, with in that dreadful
environment, the population of the fallen kingdom migrates within the realm of
the victorious king and is taken care of, yet with lower resources in access
than to the one’s already serving their native kingdom.

The slanderous rage and
vengeance between kingdoms slowly started to subside as years passed by and
humans became more development oriented. With every piece of their mind
dedicated to invention and progress. People started to think ways to connect
the world and there was some amicable communication among the mob. The vengeance took
a new avatar of competition which was less dreadful and more of a struggle to
survive. Within that the corporate companies and Blue chips took the very role
of kingdoms and the wars were cold and silent yet tangible.

What we now see or hear and interpret in market is nowhere close to the reality behind that decision; A
decision that makes a small company worth billion dollars overnight or a
start-up, slogging its way by making one game, soon hits millions of users and
tunes in three-fold the predicted valuation, again in billions.

The use of term ‘Billion’ in
valuations is now as common as was the use of term thousand when NASDAQ or
S&P valued companies in near 90’s. The transformation is enormous and the
liquidation within the market has grown to a more risky space. What lies
beneath this is an ideology unsurpassed- the greater the CROWD, the more the
valuation. Either you round up investors to pool in or you lay down your arms
in front of a kingdom- the one with better resources and manpower. Yet, the
only contrast lies is in the ‘need’. In contrast with the past where the
victorious kingdom had the best manpower and winning a war was just the aim (gradually
taking the resources of the other kingdom) In the Present, the companies
takeover the other not just for their resources but also for their skilled
manpower. The stress is more on ‘skill’.

The point I am trying to
make here is that human emotions regarding business have never changed. What we
negotiate is not money or any liquid asset, but it is sheer ego on table. The
one that can carve out the ego from the other’s struggle to win- will win, irrespective of his exposure. Ego need not be flushed but ego needs to be contained. It’s the
only thing that makes you strong. It is the only thing that makes you believe
in yourself. It’s the only thing that you have when you are secluded in
solitude. But if you project it and press over the other, the latter would not
accept to bend under your supremity. That is why Alexander and Napoleon were dreadful, for
people then could not be easily swayed to let down their ego. But people now are
more open and every one competes for supremacy, thereby an increase in insecurity. Therefore, to deal with them, you just need your ego to be
at its best behavior.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

“The
Biggest story of Life is that it’s free. The sale is in every season. Question
is how cheap you are to spend a buck on it. Because in the end, we all are same,
it's just the expenses that differ!”

It’s
hard and difficult to live a life. Yes, it is. Maybe because we are assertive
no matter how many positives lead to an optimistic future. But in the end, our
self made premises lead to a conclusion, something that every one uniquely comprehends.

Luck
is nothing but a myth. Maybe God!

Opportunities
well are the sources of hope.

(And)

Success
is the source of materialistic happiness.

Combine
all three and that defines your life. Isn’t it true?

These are the three elements that always
define your thoughts. That is when you tell your wife that you’re busy, your
children that you cannot go for a movie (and) if you are unmarried, then maybe
you ignore your surroundings because of such thoughts. We all live in a
personal bubble and we forget to see what’s beyond a life that has these three
elements. Maybe that is why we use a small fraction of our brain. And if you
tell me you enjoy your life and these three ain’t the only defining elements,
then either you really have achieved ‘nirvana’ of your personal bubble or you
just had an epiphany.

There
would be many who would tell you to think positive, prioritize your work, and
strive harder for your self- made goals, to focus, to be active every hour blah
blah.

But
it isn’t necessary.

Following
rules and protocols makes you more human. But I am asking you to be more
yourself. There are times in your life when your brain completely shunts your
orders and makes you more unproductive (less productive sounds trivial). In
such situations you tend to blame your consciousness of surroundings. You
actually threaten your own soul to concentrate else you tear it apart. For some
it is just another source of keeping the focus and for some it is the reason
for grueling suicidal tendencies.

You
may dream of your girl. You may be more enchanted by the fictional love story
you dream. You may have habits that irritate your own self. But then whatever
you do is what you do and no one else.

It
is time that you relax. It is time that you are more selfish about your needs.
It is time to prioritize not work but love. It is time that you are closer to
people who matter -Your parents, siblings, cousins, friends and love.-Because
at the end of the day, if you haven’t been out of your bubble created by those
three elements of ‘life’, then you actually haven’t lived a life.

Life
is simple as we know it and it is filled with people who care about you if you
look it in that way. Being inspired is not medicine. Being motivated is not the
solution. Being you is.

“No
matter how alone I am; No matter how world looks at me, I know not how I would
be perceived when thrown within the light amongst the billions of earthiens in
the audience. But I do know in that moment, that minute part of my life would
be spent looking at you as a friend... Shouting... Cheering... Jumping for
accomplishing my fears for me and pushing me in for that extra mile, so that
success kisses me”

Maybe
love is all we want and that is where we stretch ourselves out to use our brain
more than what we do; It may be so that the heart is the controller.
Scientifically proven? I don’t care because for me my world is what I perceive
it as. And for me it is how I make it so. At the end of the day, what you have
done is what the results show.

You prayed God, you did something nice. You prayed
evil, well you did something bad. You behaved in a manner as per the protocol
of the society, you lived it right. But if you lived your life on your terms,
then you lived as you want it. Right (or) wrong? Isn’t it good to be the judge
of own? It is right.

(now
am standing, raising my hand, and shouting like a creep)

Just
smile, live life, set your principles and just live it people. Be blank, be
unproductive for sometime but then sketch it out for latter. Anytime, anywhere, you are who you are. And
people will like you if you like yourself, because if you do something you
don’t like, then obviously the others also do not. And if they do, change the
‘scene’ (the surroundings or people) as soon as possible. Sing a song, dance a
step, learn something on hold, and spend the money. (The currency of life)

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Quantitative easing is a process by
which US Fed will buy back Mortgage based securities and US treasury bonds to
stimulate the ascent of dollar. In such process, the Indian trading scenario–
value of Import and export (Fiscal deficit) – is adversely affected due to
incompetence of other currencies.

Following the descending trend, was our
rupee, which recently saw a decline of around 23%. It’s the sharpest fall since
1991. In the below story, the rupee is referring to the Masters (‘they’) – the
Ministry of Finance and the UPA – and his village that is the RBI.

To any-one-reading,

You are a sibling to me.

Let’s
share a secret, a small one I must say. Are you interested in hearing me out?

I
don’t think it’s much of a secret now. For ‘they’ have been prodding me and now
I have slumped like cow dung over wet mud in a rusty household near ‘that’
not-so-developed village, where people are shredding the very last portraits of
mine and valuing my ‘contemporaries’. The picture I am trying to project is
absolutely bizarre yet it’s vehement in its portrayal – portrayal of my state.
(pause) (cough).

You may not know me. Yes, You. For I have
always been with you yet you never understood me; I know you don’t wish to know
about me. Oh! Come on, you have so many commitments right? But let me tell you
this. Everything that you do, plan to do or have actually done, somewhere or
the other leads to me, directly or indirectly, intentionally or
unintentionally. I am a companion you can never ignore because without me, you
– a girl or a boy or whatever – would never even make a decision or spread your
thoughts – ubiquitously – for ‘free’ as none of your thoughts are less valued –
especially in your opinion – and aren’t available without any decree. Sad.

I
believe my ‘anger’ is justifiable, for you haven’t taken any steps to save your
dying sibling. Yeah! That sibling is me. But gaining your sympathy isn’t my cup
of tea rather making you understand and feel my plight, well, to an extent, is.

For
Mr. Gandhi was a decent man and in his time I was valued. I belonged to a
‘golden bird’ and represented the highest loyalty to the one who deserved me. I
can be ‘bitchy’ in terms of my changing values yet that is how I was born and
can’t change it. Many in a ‘market’ show their authority on me but I really
don’t get what they are deciding on. It’s like someone asking the other, ‘hey,
do you think I can make this misbehaving child a disciplined youth in a week?
The answer is eventually ‘No’. Moreover, ‘they’ think they know my background,
my emotional threshold and the break-even point, where I’ll give up everything
and ascent as ‘they’ want me to. Now, as you are reading to my cry so intently,
let me make this story straight for you.

Just
few months back, the Superstar of our virtual entertainment world recited a new
dialogue (ref. Ben Bernanke). I love
that dialogue. It’s epic. He said, ‘Quantitative easing is required’. I was
elated - sitting in the chair of the theatre with that scene flashing by. I
praised him for such a performance. But I really didn’t know what it meant; I
was just euphoric because of the star power surrounding the man during the
dialogue. The next day, my best friend ‘Yen’, saw a sharp decline in his
weight. His father, Japan, faced a migraine- stroke because of this. But I was
young and rebellious. I wasn’t able to comprehend the situation then. In the
same week, Dinar and pound, my two overseas friends, were ignoring my calls, as
though I am nothing to them.

I
really wasn’t able to understand situations that arose in the same period. I
was losing a lot of weight. Moreover, my so-called friend, Dollar, was gaining
so much importance in the market. I had no option but to go, stand in front of
him and give him fake appreciations, for I never understood why he was so
important. But he had a good physique and was ‘stable’, actually physically
stable but mentally ‘lost’. His masters were somewhat similar to mine. So, I
can easily relate to his situation. I feel sympathetic for such an athlete. For
me, on the other hand, the masters that control me, well, aren’t capable enough
to even feed me properly. Maybe that’s why dollar is of more importance than
me. Dollar’s masters are capable of bringing out stimulus plans, spend
trillions on his recovery but my people, even though borrow and spend billions
on my recovery – for they do as they have to – the money never even reaches my
hospital doors. Either the ‘watchman’ outside the gate threatens the
money-bearing officers with a gun and runs away with it or the ‘doctor’ treating
me is more corrupt then I guessed, looking by his autocratic nature and
incompetent surgical decisions. Bad guy!

Whoever
you are, reading my outburst, I believe somewhere or the other you know me. I
plead for my wellness and I believe that one day, these friends of mine would
follow me and my idea rather me pleading them for mercy. I am you sibling, a
true one. For now I need help. Don’t share me by likes or hash tags, but learn
about me and understand me to the fullest so that you can free me from the prison
of my masters. They Ill-treat me and I cry every day and night, for my pain is
insufferable and my illness has caused me to lose a lot of weight.I will die soon, if steps are not taken for
my recovery. I plead my life. I plead my soul. Oh! Sibling, I plead my dignity.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Amartya
Sen says “...the achievement of high growth must ultimately be judged in terms
of the impact of that economic growth on the lives and freedoms of the
people...”

Sen
believes that in democracy, equality comes with freedom and social justice.
Such are his views and such views cannot be solemnly misjudged. India is
growing, a fact, yet its depreciating in terms of social empowerment and there
is still no void filled when it comes for health reforms, rural infrastructural
reforms, Girl child education and safety so on...

Let’s
speak about the India that youth inhabit in. We have seen booming start-ups,
new innovations, diversifying fields of professionalism and educational
establishments, more rankings and researches, better opportunities, more
reformed status of youth, greater emphasis on education and much better sense
of accountability with younger generation looking the prospective of creative
professionalism fuelling countries long-term prospects of growth. But is it?

NGO’s
have been established, many are working to lift the rural people especially the
children who are lacking the fundamental resources to cult a living in their
budding age. Education is always prime importance; health becomes an important
catalyst and resources, well, needed as by the urban people. Growth is not just
acceleration of economy or winning competition from a bordering country but it
is what happens within the country; it is the scale of ‘social justice’ that
cannot be argued and it is the surety of equality of opportunity for every
citizen that holds certain duties within the constitutional framework.

Nehru
believed in capitalism even though India was more of a socialist and
progressing in the same way under the Indira Gandhi regime. I do credit Mr.
Rajiv Gandhi for the commercialization of our country with better technologies
and more job-oriented opportunities stepping onto our shores. But the
corruption was a side effect and that slowly nauseated India in its long run.
If you agree, then it is still.

Being
young gives me advantage of not knowing everything yet forming opinions is self
analysis. I do not understand UPA or NDA or the Left and right. What I
understand is that India needs to aim properly and focus at its goal as is said
to a young student aiming to crack an entrance test. Having an economist leader
like Mr. Singh is an advantage said my grandfather during the UPA win after Mr.
Vajpayee lost. But ten years down the line, I could just see more scams and
less development and many people angry with the same leader silent. If the
sub-ordinates are angry then there was a mistake in the part of the leader and
such organisation can, well, be imagined in rubbles when the D-day of new
elections comes in. I, as a youth of this country, may just want to study, work
hard and earn a proper living but then if my expenditures can, as per Keynesian
economics, lead to a small growth of the country then I need assurances that my
hard work and perseverance for such a long time to get that money is spent
wisely and the required channels are being followed.

India
is inching slowly towards the developed status quo. Such progress requires
proper mentoring and taming by goal-oriented masters. Politicians can step in
the shoes of such masters, forget the divisions among the parties, centrally
allocate power to a neutral man like the President and move towards reform else
Kedarnath was a natural calamity and can be excused for the several reasons but
if the whole country, someday, is flooded and people scream out for help, then
tell me, Who would carry out the rescue operations?

Growth
statistics can be obtained from any websites or magazine, but the philosophy is
what requires proper perspectives. Comment not only on your instincts of
failure but also on the required governance and steps to save our deteriorating
political offices. India lacks a leader and even if a strong one steps in, he
or she would surely be suppressed or delayed by the opposing parties and bad
politics. We require a neutral leader with one aim and one aim only- Growth.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The housing bubble wasn’t just a shock but rather a disaster

When Raghuram Rajan presented his paper ‘Has Financial
Market made the world riskier?’ (Raghuram
Rajan-2005), he didn’t think much on it because he had nailed it right. The
Financial machinery hasn’t been regulated well and soon is going to break down.
Did the Bankers do it? A question he asked and we all would have had our
answers if we realized what he was talking about?

He did make sense and effectively presented the declining
options for private banks to liquidate their ‘stocks’ which ‘they’-the ‘private’
banks labelled as ‘The Collateralized Debt Obligation’ (CDO). Not only were they
insured for this but they also managed to get private investors buy loans given
to middle class people whose probability of repaying the amount was KNOWN to
be minimal.

In his paper, Rajan describes the incentive structure of
the traders and how Investment bankers are actually nailing their boots to
the floors and waiting for the boom. When in 2001, the CDO’s were effectively
sold out as Sub-Prime mortgages, very few had their eyes open into the future
guessing about the bubble burst. Rajan was one of the few and he dared to speak
it out.

In 2005, the paper was presented in front of huge galore
of widely-recognised listeners. The crowd wasn’t just any other
financial-conference crowd but it was a pack of A-Lister’s, the Government
know-how’s and the policy makers, who were trying to condemn the idea Rajan was
presenting.

Many didn’t want to hear.

In 2006, Banks had started to show the danger signs. Red
flags were drawn and economists had already pointed at the high-cost incentive structures
and roll outs. Wall Street started to feel the tremors of the bubble burst when
few private banks were declining at a faster rate. Some officials from the
foreign governments signalled the US finance authorities of the ‘Tsunami’ that
was to come. Still many private banks didn’t actually understand the signs until
the fall of three major banks and one of them inching to slow death- Lehman
brothers was out- Senate hearings have started and many economic evangelists are
asked for help.

2008: Institutional grounds on economics remained weak and
Rajan saw what he had pictured right in front of him as soon as 2008 started to
become more disastrous. Many great banks fell and so was their insurer- AIG was
down. World was trembling with losses. Families were shattered and the recession
had taken its diabolic face.

Stimulus plans were out. Trillions of dollars were
streamlined considering the Keynesian economics yet many still didn’t
understand what the housing bubble was? And whether these stimulus plans were
actually effective?

Great leaders behind these private banks were asked to step
down but it wasn’t for long. The presidency was ending and a new era of change,
as promised by the new President-nominee, was starting. But the effect actually
never subsided and we saw same people institutionalizing over the dollar, which
adds to the decline of value for many currencies around the globe. A second
stimulus plan was sanctioned and it did nothing good than worse. The economy
was sledge-hammered and Rajan knew the picture he saw is still missing some
pieces.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Circumstantially Close

The liberty of a chained man within the conundrum of contingencies defines
his own state of malignant emotions playing mockery thus defined.

Established are those forceful men
and women with complacent minds synchronized with the patterns of time and the
sound of winning tides. For they are successful for their power thus defined.

They say thou shall seek friendship
in the interior of heart yet none shall be defined close and none shall be far.
For each is equal if they are thy friends else they are enemies which thou
wouldn’t care.

For people may say in tests of
circumstance, in an instance, for seeking sympathy, for emotional glance, that
thou is my closest aide, thou I respect but when did you know the emotional
bond, its been years just passed yet thou scorn.Pity not mercy shall be bestowed and
Compromise not vengeance is to tow.

Yet, the chained man still
reminiscent of the pleasure and luxury now weeps, yet in the solitude of
loneliness so scared he feeds. For thy god has betrayed not me not them, for
thy god was a friend, a closest aide.